This article reviews the history and significance of Native Americanmascots as well as the ongoing controversy over the continued use of pseudo-Indian imagery in athletics. It offers a succinct review of the literature, identifying three key foci: stereotyping, historical structures, and institutional arrangements. Against this background, it underscores the central concerns and core contribution of the special: the examination of the competing and contradictory claims made on, off, about, and through Indianness in the creation and contestation of Native American mascots. It attends to the appropriation of Indianness at the heart of American imperialism as well as recent efforts to reclaimcontrol over Indianness through a decolonization of sporting worlds. A summary of the scope and significance of each of the contributions to the special issue follows.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Banks, D. (1993). Tribal names and mascots in sports . Journal of Sport and Social Issues, 17(1), 5-8 .
2.
Bird, E. S. (Ed.). (1996). Dressing in feathers: The construction of the Indian in American popular culture. Boulder, CO: Westview .
3.
Churchill, W. (1994). Let’s spread the fun around. Indians are us? Culture and genocide in native North America(pp. 65-72). Monroe, ME: Common Courage .
4.
Connolly, M. R. (2000). What in a name? A historical look at Native American related nicknames and symbols at three U.S. universities . Journal of Higher Education, 71(5), 515-547 .
5.
Coombe, R. J. (1999). Sports trademarks and somatic politics: Locating the lawin critical cultural studies. In R. Martin & T. Miller (Eds.), SportCult(pp. 262-288). Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press .
6.
Davis, L. (1993). Protest against the use of Native American mascots: A challenge to traditional, American identity . Journal of Sport and Social Issues, 17(1), 9-22 .
7.
Davis, L., & Rau, M. T. (2001). Escaping the tyranny of the majority: A case study in mascot change. In C. R. King & C. F. Springwood (Eds.), Team spirits: The Native American mascots controversy(pp. 221-240). Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press .
8.
Deloria, P. (1998). Playing Indian. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press .
9.
Drinnon, R. (1980). Facing west: The metaphysics of Indian-hating and empire building. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press .
10.
Farnell, B. (2004). The fancy dance of racializing discourse , Journal of Sport and Social Issues, 28(1), 30-55 .
11.
Green, R. (1988). The tribe called Wannabee: Playing Indian in America and Europe . Folklore, 99, 30-55 .
12.
Huhndorf, S. (2001). Going native. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press .
13.
King, C. R. (1998). Spectacles, sports, and stereotypes: Dis/playing Chief Illiniwek. Colonial discourse, collectivememories, and the exhibition of Native American cultures and histories in the contemporary United States(pp. 41-58). New York: Garland .
14.
King, C. R. (2001). Uneasy Indians: Creating and contestingNativeAmerican mascots at Marquette University. In C. R. King & C. F. Springwood (Eds.), Team spirits: Essays on the history and significance of Native American mascots(pp. 281-303). Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press .
15.
King, C. R. (2002). Defensive dialogues: Native American mascots, anti-Indianism, and educational institutions . Studies inMedia& Information Literacy Education, 2(1). Available at http://www.utpress.utoronto.ca/journal/ejournals/simile
16.
King, C. R. (2003). Arguing over images: Native American mascots and race. In R. A. Lind (Ed)., Race/gender/media: Considering diversity across audiences, content, and producers. Boston: AB-Longman .
17.
King, C. R. (in press-a). Being awarrior: Race, gender, andNative Americanmascots. In L. K. Fuller (Ed.), Sexual sports rhetoric: Teaming up gender with the language of sport. Binghamton, NY: Haworth Press .
18.
King, C. R. (in press-b). Borrowing power: Racial metaphors and pseudo-Indian mascots. CR: The New Centennial Review.
19.
King, C. R.,& Springwood, C. F. (2000). Choreographing colonialism: Athletic mascots, (dis)embodied Indians, and EuroAmerican subjectivities . Cultural Studies: A Research Annual, 5, 191-221 .
20.
King, C. R.,& Springwood, C. F. (2001a). Beyond the cheers: Race as spectacle in college sports. Albany: State University of New York Press .
21.
King, C. R.,& Springwood, C. F. (Eds.) (2001b). Team spirits: Essays on the history and significance of Native American mascots. Lincoln: University of Nebraska .
22.
King, C. R., Staurowsky, E. J., Baca, L., Davis, L. R., & Pewewardy, C. (2002). Of polls and race prejudice: Sports Illustrated’serrant “Indian wars.’ Journal of Sport and Social Issues, 26, 382-403 .
23.
Mechling, J. (1980). Playing Indian and the search for authenticity in modern White America . Prospects, 5, 7-33 .
24.
Moses, L. G. (1996). WildWest shows and the images of American Indians, 1883-1933. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press .
25.
Nuessel, F. (1994). Objectionable sports team designations . Names: A Journal of Onomastics, 42, 101-119 .
26.
Pewewardy, C. D. (1991). Native American mascots and imagery: The struggle of unlearning Indian stereotypes . Journal of Navaho Education, 9(1), 19-23 .
27.
Pewewardy, C. (1998). Fluff and feathers: Treatment of American Indians in the literature and the classroom . Equity and Excellence in Education, 31, 69-76 .
28.
Powers-Beck, J. (2001). “Chief ”: The American Indian integration of baseball, 1897-1945 . American Indian Quarterly, 25(4), 508-538
29.
Prochaska, D. (2001). At home in Illinois: Presence of Chief Illinwek, absence of Native Americans. In C. R. King& C. F. Springwood (Eds.), Team spirits: TheNative American mascots controversy(pp. 157-188). Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press .
30.
Rodriquez, R. (1998). Plotting the assassination of Little Red Sambo: Psychologists join war against racist campus mascots . Black Issues in Higher Education, 15(8), 20-24 .
31.
Slowikowski, S. S. (1993). Cultural performances and sports mascots . Journal of Sport and Social Issues, 17(1), 23-33 .
32.
Spindel, C. (2000). Dancing at halftime: Sports and the controversy over American Indian mascots. New York: New York University Press .
33.
Springwood, C. F. (2001). Playing Indian and fighting (for) mascots: Reading the complications of Native American and EuroAmerican alliances. In C. R. King & C. F. Springwood (Eds.), Team spirits: Essays on the history and significance of Native American mascots(pp. 304-327). Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press .
34.
Springwood, C. F. (2004) “I’m Indian, too!” Claiming Native American identity, crafting authority in mascot debates . Journal of Sport and Social Issues, 28(1), 56-70 .
35.
Springwood, C. F.,& King, C. R. (2000). Race, power, and representation in contemporary American sport. In P. Kivisto & G. Rundblad (Eds.), The color line at the dawn of the 21st century(pp. 161-174). Thousand Oaks, CA: Pine Forge .
36.
Staurowsky, E. J. (1998). An act of honor or exploitation? TheCleveland Indians’ use of the Louis Francis Sockalexis story . Sociology of Sport Journal, 15(4), 299-316 .
37.
Staurowsky, E. J. (1999). American Indian imagery and the miseducation of America . Quest, 51(4), 382-392 .
38.
Staurowsky, E. J. (2000). The Cleveland Indians: A case study in cultural dispossession . Sociology of Sport Journal, 17, 307-330
39.
Staurowsky, E. J. (2001). Sockalexis and the making of the myth at the core of Cleveland’s “Indian” image. In C. R. King & C. F. Springwood (Eds.), Team spirits: The Native American mascots controversy(pp. 82-108). Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press .
40.
Vanderford, H. (1996). What’s in a name? Heritage or hatred: The school mascot controversy . Journal of Law and Education, 25, 381-388 .
